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Fort Wayne, IN, commemorates Oak Creek shooting with 6 Days of Seva

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Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a town located about four hours southeast of Oak Creek, Wisconsin. A small but growing Sikh population there recently commemorated the second anniversary of the mass shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in which six people were murdered by a white supremacist. Over six days, the community honored each of the victims with a seva (selfless service) project. Lori Way, a regular contributor to this blog and a Sikh Coalition Volunteer Advocate in Fort Wayne, shares a summary and photos of the community’s commemoration.

The Sikh Community of Fort Wayne honored the victims of the 2012 shooting at Oak Creek through a series of small projects that took place from July 31st to August 5th. These Six Days of Seva helped to spread awareness about the tragedy as well as other facts about the Sikh religion and its history. Members of the Dashmesh Sikh Gurudwara (located at 15020 Illinois Road, Fort Wayne) and the Sikh Gurudwara of Fort Wayne (11431 Lower Huntington Road, Roanoke, Indiana) partnered with faculty from the University of Saint Francis and Ivy Tech Community College on these projects.

In honor of Satwant Singh Kaleka, local gas station owners offered free coffee at various locations throughout the city.

In honor of Suveg Singh Kattra, educational library displays were constructed at USF and Ivy Tech.

In honor of Ranjit Singh and Sita Singh, a donation for school supplies and art materials was sent to a school in their former hometown of New Delhi, and book donations were made at the Ivy Tech and USF libraries.

In honor of Paramjit Kaur, Dashmesh Sikh Gurudwara held a food drive which benefited the Community Harvest Food Bank of Fort Wayne.

In honor of Prakash Singh, roses were planted at the Sikh Gurudwara of Fort Wayne and the Dashmesh Sikh Gurudwara.

I would like to thank everyone who helped make these events a success. Special thanks goes to: